Movie 43 Brings Together Big Stars, Big Raunch
January 26th, 2013 by Gregg Senko
Where does one start with this film? If you’ve caught even the smallest fragment of critic talk on this picture, you know it’s been labeled as everything from star-studded to vulgar. The cast contains some of Hollywood’s most prominent names like Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Richard Gere, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet just to name a few…and that’s literally just a few of the actors in the prominent cast. I made it a point not to look up the reasoning behind the film’s rather bland title, just to see if the film itself would unveil the mystery. It never did give that up, but where it kept quite on a title, it went all out everywhere else.
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A co-worker first told me about this film some months back, of which I thought he was joking. When he persisted that there really was a Hansel & Gretel movie coming out, I made a mad dash to my phone and checked out the trailer. My initial thought was, “What’s this? The latest trend on the heels of Abe Lincoln hunting vampires? What’s next? Napoleon: Sasquatch Hunter?” The film’s preview didn’t exactly light my fire, but with Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Renner headlining the movie, I figured I’d give it a go.
It seems like the last time anybody was talking about genies in the mainstream, Disney was releasing Aladdin on Blu-ray. Well, the age-old Middle Eastern mythos is back, this time on the pages of Jinnrise, a new mini-series from IDW comics. The title brings forth a concoction of sci-fi with the wish-granting super beings in what intends to be a high octane collision course.
New from Image imprint Top Cow Productions, Inc., a five-part mini-series titled Son of Merlin debuted its first issue on January 9th. The story has a bit of a Dresden Files experience to it, combining ancient magic with the modern day. The story ultimately focuses on a genius professor at MIT by the name of Simon Ambrose. A disciple of science, Ambrose puts little belief in anything else. It’s not until he encounters an un-openable book and a seemingly crazy but attractive female that his eyes start to see a world he was previously unaware of.
Warning: This review contains spoilers from The Amazing Spider-Man #700. Following quickly on the heels of its predecessor, the inaugural issue of The Superior Spider-Man made its debut this past week. It was the final issue of the long-standing The Amazing Spider-Man series that brought us to this point. Fans were in an uproar in what happened in that issue and the chain of events that brought us to the new, the improved, The Superior Spider-Man.
On December 26, 2004, a massive earthquake occurred on the floor of the Indian Ocean. This violent undersea action set forth a chain of events that caused an enormous amount of pressure and force upward and outward. The end product was a tsunami and resulting devastation unlike any the world had seen before. The casualties numbered over a quarter million spread over southeast Asia, destroying entire towns, lives and displacing the living from their relatives. In the case of one particular family, an immense natural disaster was not going to keep them apart. But without the use of computers, phone lines or radios, finding one another would seem like nothing short of The Impossible.
While Zero Dark Thirty is going to get its mass release in January, you can whet your appetite in the meantime with the independent film SEAL Team Six. I can’t make a comparison between this and Zero Dark Thirty, but I can say SEAL Team Six achieves moments of proficiency with its smaller scale approach while still aiming for the feel of realism.
Earlier this month I released my worst films of 2012. That was probably one of the easiest lists I ever put together. The good ones from the year the Mayan calendar ended were a little more difficult to assemble. It was another year of superheroes at the box office which brought in super dividends for their studios. Disney lost big with John Carter, but cashed in on Wreck-It Ralph. Channing Tatum had four…err, three films on the agenda for the year, both doing very well. Then there’s the highly anticipated Tolkien work, The Hobbit, which took viewers on another journey through Middle Earth (with some really bad CGI). But while there may be one ring to rule them all, it was the following ten works that were the crowning achievements of film for me in 2012.
I couldn’t sum up the Blu-ray releases of 2012 better than Brian White’s article in which he mentioned standouts such as the Bond collection, Universal Monsters and so on. It’s almost as if the studios got together and said, “Hey, if the world does end on 12/21/12, we better go out with a bang.” Had that fictional conversation took place, they certainly lived up to their aspirations. It was definitely much easier assembling a list of top 10 cinema releases this year than it was Blu-rays. Now onto the rankings!
If you’re on the fence about getting into comic book reading or not, now is as good a time as any. In all honesty, this is a great time to delve into the pop culture art form. The stories and artwork that grace the pages of many of today’s titles are entertaining if not exceptional reads. Looking for a few good titles to let your imagination escape? This list will provide the best of what we saw in 2012.
I don’t remember being as disappointed by movies during the course of 2012 than I was in any other year. I mean, there were some genuinely terrible productions released this year. Now I try and see as many films as possible, but this time around, I eventually had to put the brakes on because of the seemingly incessant waste of time and money I was spending on them. It wasn’t quite big enough for a top ten list, but it came awfully close. Doom on you, Hollywood. You screwed up a lot this year.
There are some strong contenders for the title of Album of the Year for 2012. They range from bands that deliver hard riffs and cryptic lyrics to a movie soundtrack that musically enunciated each note to a heart-pounding degree. There were also a few newcomers that brought some refreshing strength to what can be at times a repetitive music industry. Still, at the end of the day, there can only be one.
There are a few vacations I’ve taken that greatly overshadow any others I’ve been on. Ilha Grande, Brazil. Red Rocks National Park in Colorado. The San Diego Comic-Con. Ah Comic-Con, the only man-made stop of the aforementioned trio. After attending three Cons (’08-’10), I can honestly say I was extremely disappointed on missing last year’s and have been suffering from withdrawal ever since. So when a book came across my desk to review, aptly titled Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture, I took notice and gladly accepted the task to cover its content. What started out as a literary whetting of the convention appetite, turned into one solidly educating and entertaining read.
I was kind of worried throughout the first half of the year that it wasn’t going to be a pleasant 2011 as far as theater viewings went. There were more than a few flops at the cinema by the time June came to a close with a sparse picking of films that had some ‘wow’ factor. Thankfully, the second half of 2011 made up for it in just about any genre you can think of, and as December winds down, I waited until seeing War Horse before releasing this list. However, that potentially epic film fell short and didn’t come close to making the list. So without any more delay, here are some of the best and worst films we’ve had the opportunity (or displeasure) of experiencing since January…
So many Blu-rays, so little time. If I bought every disc I wanted to see this year, I would’ve gone broke before the summer ended. There were some great releases that didn’t make my list such as Swingers, Attack the Block, and True Blood: Season 3. Then there were the sure-fire films I thought would make the list but missed by a mile, like a really bad video transfer of Gettysburg and an extras-less Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Who releases a big budget feature on Blu-ray with no extras?? Anyway, I’d have to say this was probably the most difficult top ten Blu-ray list I ever had to assemble as it underwent many changes throughout the year, most over the course of the last week. Now that 2011 is just about said and done, here are my favorite picks of the year…
It’s hard to believe that it will almost be a year when Why So Blu covered its first mixed martial arts event. In that time, we’ve seen fight card after fight card of determined athletes pitted against each other amidst a backdrop of live music and an engrossed fanbase. While the people behind Rocktagon make this look like an easily-assembled formula for entertainment, there’s actually a very determined work ethic taking place behind the scenes, which not only brings the ferocity and education of MMA to the public in an up close and personal style, but is a formula for success if nothing else.
All this week, Why So Blu will be featuring some of its writers albums that, while not necessarily their favorites, were recordings that changed our lives in some way, shape, or form. Each day, Monday through Friday of this week, will highlight a different writer. When the crew sat down and discussed this, we figured everyone likes music and this will give our readers a little insight into what makes us musically tick. 
Queen Latifah has had a busy decade in terms of her film career. From appearing on episodes of the television show Spin City in 2001 to last year’s third installment in the Ice Age franchise, she has also had a variety of projects dotting the landscape along the way. Latifah has appeared comedies such as Scary Movie 3 and the critically acclaimed musical Chicago. The rapper-turned-actress has had a very productive 2010 as she co-starred in Valentine’s Day and now takes top billing in her latest work, Just Wright. 
It was 2001 when the original Shrek captured the attention of audiences around the globe. Kids liked it for the fun characters and colorful delivery. Adults enjoyed it for the cleverly placed humor throughout the film. The sequel came out three years later and it was another round of laughs and adventure for theater-goers and big bucks for Dreamworks. You know Hollywood. Where success was once found, try and try again. 
